LIHU‘E — Dengue fever and Dengue hemorrhagic fever are separate diseases, but are caused by the same type of virus. “Hemorrhagic is the most serious manifestation of the Dengue virus,” said Dr. Dennis Scheppers, family practice doctor in Lihu‘e. “It
LIHU‘E — Dengue fever and Dengue hemorrhagic fever are separate diseases, but are caused by the same type of virus.
“Hemorrhagic is the most serious manifestation of the Dengue virus,” said Dr. Dennis Scheppers, family practice doctor in Lihu‘e. “It is fairly rare, but can be life threatening.”
The disease is transmitted by mosquito bite and is not contagious.
Andy Irons was suffering from the disease, causing him to withdraw from the 2010 Rip Curl Pro Search this weekend in Puerto Rico.
Irons was later found dead in a Dallas hotel after attempting to fly back home to Kaua‘i.
Dr. Scheppers said that the initial symptoms of each disease are the same, which can include fever, headache, eye pain, rash, muscle pain and nausea. But in the case of the hemorrhagic fever, the blood vessels actually leak fluid and people go into shock as fluid goes into other systems.
“That’s called plasma leakage,” Dr. Scheppers said. “That’s the most life-threatening feature.”
He said that people who have had it before are far more likely to develop the serious disease.
“That’s almost always when the most severe cases happen, with serial occurrences,” he said.
According to reports, fellow pro surfer Mark Occhilupo told Fox Sports News that Irons had contracted Dengue fever before and that it would re-occur when he began to feel sick.
“He’s been traveling extensively,” said Dr. Scheppers. “He might have contracted a slight case, gotten over it and then had it re-occur.”
Dr. Thomas Namiki, a pathologist at The Queens Medical Center in Honolulu, said that Dengue is endemic in a lot of warmer climates.
“There is no specific treatment,” he said. “There is just supportive care… It’s not like a bacteria where you can treat it.”
Dr. Namiki said there is a huge variation to how people respond to it, saying some people can have internal bleeding and anemia, while others are able to recover just by taking care of the initial symptoms.
He also said that it is “very unusual” for it to become a fatal illness.
According to online reference Medscape, Hawai‘i experienced an outbreak in late 2001, which was contained mostly to Maui with 122 people showing positive laboratory evidence of a recent Dengue infection.
Maui accounted for 76 percent of the infections with O‘ahu (21 percent) and Kaua‘i (3 percent) making up the remainder.
